Depression - some warning lights

You know how you can be in your car, tooling down the road, maybe humming a tune along with your favorite cd or a radio station? The weather is great, and you're having a nice day.  

And then one of those lights on your dash lights up? Bummer.

There's either a problem under the hood, or a tire is almost flat, or something else. That light is a warning.

Depression is like that. We shouldn't keep on driving. We shouldn't ignore it in ourselves or in our friends. We need to pull over and figure out what is wrong. The best thing we can do for ourselves or for our loved ones is to confront the "why" of depression.

First of all, depression can be due to physical causes. We're complex critters, and "fearfully and wonderfully made." Our emotions are not separate from our bodies. Some people are more prone to depression due to the chemical balance (or imbalance) within their bodies. They may benefit from medications that attempt to restore that balance. Women may struggle with depression because of having a baby, or because of menopause. There are changes within the aging process that make us prone to depression. We can be pushing too hard or internalizing stress at our workplace. It may just be that we are more than tired; we are exhausted. Maybe we need some rest. 

So, bottom line up front, the first place to start when we see the warning light is to get a checkup - make sure we are healthy. It's important to be a good steward of the body and the health that God has gifted to us.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. (III John 1:2) 

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

Depression can also hit us just from our circumstances. Maybe we have had a "mountain top" spiritual experience, a wonderful time of fellowship with the Spirit or with other believers. After that enriching experience, the humdrum of daily life sets back in. Or perhaps we are a new believer and the excitement of our salvation wears off, or maybe trials set in and take the shine off our days. The psalmist appears to be looking back fondly at the times when he would go with others in the processions to God's house:

These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng. (Psalm 42:4)

Depression can hit when we suffer disappointment, too. Maybe we've hoped and prayed for something, and it doesn't happen. If we don't turn that over to the Lord, it can make us feel sad. Self-pity is another common cause of depression. And of course, we can feel depressed when we suffer a loss of a loved one through death.

When we are hit by the warning lights of depression, it's important to know ourselves. Is our depression more just "blues"? Is it a minor mood swing? Like a pilot flying a plane in a spot of turbulence, we can make a slight adjustment and not get too concerned. . . . but if we are in a nosedive, we may need to take some drastic action to avoid a crash. The psalmist is doing that here: he grabs himself by the shoulders and talks to himself about what he knows to be true. In spite of his feelings, he remembers truths that will eventually help pull himself out of depression. And it isn't necessarily a "one-shot" deal, either -- it takes the psalmist a while to get on top of his depression. 

We can read in these two psalms that he cycles through lament and hope. I think there are four times that he rides that roller coaster up toward hope and then down again toward despair. In our own lives, it may take us a few cycles of up and down before we can pull out of the nosedive. But the important thing is to aggressively deal with it, and not just drift with the circumstances. We will look at how to do this in our next posts.